Westpac raises home loan rates by 14bps for 18-month fixed standard and special mortgages

Westpac is the latest New Zealand bank to announce a home loan rate change, with both the 18-month fixed standard and special rates increasing.

The bank announced the standard fixed rate would rise from 5.05% to 5.19%, while the special fixed rate would increase from 4.45% to 4.59%.

The changes mark a 14-basis-point (bp) increase for both rates and will kick in from tomorrow.

The rise comes after ASB and BNZ announced changes to their fixed home loan rates yesterday, weeks after the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 2.25% for the final time this year.

For ASB, its two-year rate jumped from 4.49% to 4.75% – a change of 26bps – while its three-year rate would increase from 4.79% to 5.09%.

The bank’s four- and five-year rates are both being raised by 30bps to 5.39% and 5.45% respectively.

Meanwhile, BNZ concurrently dropped its six-month rate from 10bps to 4.79% as it hiked rates for 18-month terms by 19bps to 4.64%.

Two-year term rates will be moved to 4.69% (an increase of 20bps), while three-, four- and five-year term rates will be raised by 30bps.

The latest OCR cut on November 26 provided further relief for shorter-term rates, yet the 20bps spike in two-year swap rates have continued to influence longer-term rates, leading Reserve Bank Governor Dr Anna Breman to issue a statement aimed at talking down the market.

Breman, speaking to the Herald this week, stressed that the Reserve Bank’s November 26 Monetary Policy Statement for the year ahead “still holds”.

“I think there is a risk that if mortgage rates rise quickly, that households will see that and be more cautious than maybe they need to be,” she said.

“I think it is important that we see a healthy [economic] recovery now and also that that recovery lasts. It’s been three years of very weak growth and we’re just about to get out of that.”

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